RAY CLIFTON'S OAK TREES - 'GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW'
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The following links provide video clips of Ray introducing his story and discussing the site of the 'Son of Cowper's Oak'. From quite an early age I took an interest in trees generally and then in oak trees in particular. The use of oak trees by the Royal Navy for the building of early ships is, of course, well known. I have for many years been interested in the early history of Olney including the fact that the poet William Cowper lived here. I read about the poet's fondness of writing under an oak tree located near Kilwick Wood in Yardley Chase. This was later known as Cowper's Oak and the area must have inspired his work.
My story moves on. For two or three years the oak seemed to establish itself, but after one winter there was no sign of life just when it should have been coming into leaf and it had obviously died. However, I was now determined to have an oak tree in Cherry Orchard and. the next time the Council purchased a variety of saplings, I paid for a further oak to be bought and planted in the Orchard. Again, sadly, this tree lasted for just two years, and then it died. Still, I was not to be thwarted in my ambition, so I tried another approach. In the 1970's and '80's I worked for Hoechst (UK) Ltd based in Milton Keynes. A 'Victoria Jubilee' oak stood on the edge of the company site and in 1983 I collected some of the acorns. These I planted in my back garden. Two of the acorns grew and eventually became some six feet tall. I again approached the Town Council and was given permission for their transfer, relocating them in Cherry Orchard. On November 29th 1996 two Council employees, Brian Wrighting and his assistant, re-planted the trees. Some eight years on, both trees have grown in height and stature and are a delight to my family and myself. At the time of writing, October 2004, they are obviously thriving. Ray Clifton, an old Olneyite Although Ray did not achieve his original aim, the more than 200 year old 'Son of Cowper's Oak' is alive and well in the Baptist Churchyard. Consequently it is even now possible to continue the line of the original Cowper's Oak tree. Could someone, maybe a local school, be encouraged to undertake Ray's original quest and grow a direct descendent from the original Cowper's Oak? |
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